Can You Plant Tomatoes With Corn?
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GardenSays
tomatoes + corn: No — keep them apart.
- Verdict
- Keep apart
- Evidence tier
- Possible conflict
- Pairs rated
- 41
The corn earworm and the tomato fruitworm are the same insect (Helicoverpa zea) — planting them together concentrates its favorite two hosts, and tall corn shades tomatoes.
Calculated result · 2 verified sources · Checked 2026-07-15 · How we decide
Why
Layout: Keep them in separate garden areas.
- A real, documented or strongly plausible reason to keep these apart or plant with care — shared disease, allelopathy, competition, or resource mismatch.
- Companion planting tweaks the odds — spacing, rotation, and airflow still matter more than any pairing.
When this doesn't apply
- Small gardens with no disease history can often get away with it — the rating protects against the bad year, not the average one.
How this was calculated
- 1. Pairing lookupKeep apartSource guidance
Tomato × Corn: rated 'bad' in the GardenSays pairing table.
- 2. Possible conflictCalculated result
A real, documented or strongly plausible reason to keep these apart or plant with care — shared disease, allelopathy, competition, or resource mismatch.
Data sources
- University of Minnesota Extension — Companion planting in home gardens — Some companion effects (trap crops, pollinator attraction, nematode suppression by marigolds) are documented; many traditional pairings lack formal evidence. (checked 2026-07-15)
- University of Minnesota Extension — Growing tomatoes in home gardens — Avoid planting tomatoes near potatoes (shared blight) or where related crops grew the previous year. (checked 2026-07-15)
What changes this answer
Every change updates the answer, the math, the weekly steps and the share link instantly.
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